


Little Diamonds

by Symph95



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Death, M/M, Overdose, Suicide, Suicide Attempt, Suicide Notes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:47:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23369449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Symph95/pseuds/Symph95
Summary: Leon stood on top of the world. Everywhere he went people recognized him. He had become a soccer sensation with Galar’s undefeated team. But in one match, everything comes tumbling down. His leg broken, his career destroyed, and his name forgotten. After months of surgery, agony, and pity he decides to end the pain forever. But an all too familiar ghost comes back with something different in mind.
Relationships: Dande | Leon/Kibana | Raihan
Comments: 3
Kudos: 39





	Little Diamonds

**Author's Note:**

> Well hello there! Welcome to this little one-shot I plotted at four in morning. Also I'm placing a sort of trigger warning here that this piece does talk about suicide so please do not read this if that is sensitive to you. Anyways I hope you enjoy!

They were like diamonds in Leon’s hand, glittering under the shine of his bathroom mirror’s lights. Five little gems that were keeping him alive, keeping the pain from consuming his entire soul. Ironic, how they would bring about his. 

All of his weight pressed against the white granite of the sink keeping pressure off his right leg hanging mangled from his body. An ugly sight the limb was. Scars and cuts of surgery sloped it and marred the once gorgeous dark skin. It looked pitiful, just sitting there trying to complete Leon and make him human when he seemed so far removed it.

Once he’d seen that leg as his pride and joy. Back when it was sculpted in that perfect build with an accuracy that shot through any goalie’s reach. Once, back when he was champion.

He could still hear cheers from the crowd screaming his name as he stood in the center of the field. A grin plastered on his face with two strong legs ready to take down any opposing team. 

But then the accident happened. A mistake, Victor promised in his statement after their collision. One that tore Leon’s leg in two and left him in a hospital for days on end as he was poked and prodded with pain being the only thing he knew. 

He sighed, moving the pills around in his hand, a friend he quickly made while moving in and out of surgery. Now they held the slot of his best friend. He saw them more than any other person anyways. 

Tilting his head up, Leon stared back at the half dead man in the mirror. Skin pulled tight against the bone making his eyes bulge. A dusty hue powdered his skin pulling away all shade of life. 

Leon’s eyes cast away from his horrifying reflection and turned to the paper neatly folded on the bathroom counter. The last thing he would ever say. 

Maybe Leon should’ve been scared when his pen first scratched the paper making what he was doing  _ real.  _ Maybe he should’ve been crying as he inked the message into the fibers making his last words eternal. But he only felt calm like what he was doing was  _ right.  _

“Bottoms up,” Leon chuckled to himself as he grabbed the cup of water. “To my career.”

And bringing the water to his lips, he threw the pills into his mouth, crossing the bridge of no return. Now he’d just wait until his friends pulled him under and hope that he’d never wake again.

As he leaned against the counter waiting for the drugs to take effect, he smiled. He thought of the life he had lived, all of the amazing things he achieved in his short twenty-five years of life. Memories danced behind his eyelids. His team, his friends, his family. Now they were free of him as his name cast itself from history. 

The abyss swallowed Leon, his name lost forever. 

His stomach clenched and he sighed constantly. The drugs worked perfectly every time. Each moment passing their consistency shined as they whittled the pain away and with it, reality. 

The beats of his heart grew further apart. Slower, slower, slower until he could barely hear them. The world began to fall around him. The light from the bathroom mirror grew dimmer and dimmer, until it disappeared completely.

If this was death, it wasn’t so bad. Somehow it felt  _ right  _ like Leon was meant to disappear.

The world around him turned to black pulling him down, and Leon smiled knowing he would never wake up to that pain again. 

~<>~

  
  


A whistle dispersed the darkness Leon slept in and showered it with a blinding light that ripped his eyes open

“Man didn’t think you’d be the one to show up here,” a voice said while Leon tried orienting himself. “I mean, with you being the champion and all.”

The first thing he noticed was that he wasn’t in his bathroom. Around him stretched an endless sea of blue and white. A bright shine caught his eyes forcing them to squint. He looked down, realizing that he was floating, flying miles high from the earth below.  
“I’m dead,” he muttered. A breath he didn’t know he was holding escaped his lips. “I’m dead.” 

No longer was his heart beating. No longer was the world around him spinning. No longer was anyone saying his name. Just like he wanted, he had disappeared from the living.

“Not just yet,” the voice said again. “Looks like someone’s still holding on.”

At the sound Leon spun around trying to find the source of the voice, but after spinning in a full circle, he couldn’t find the culprit.

“Look up.”

And Leon complied, but as he did so there was a glint of gold blinding him. Leon made a shout and lowered his head to keep his eyesight. 

The sound of laughter filled the air, making Leon bristle. 

“You’re still holding on then, by the looks of it,” the voice continued. A second later someone seemed to pull Leon up making the world before him spin. “Got a tether to the living world and everything.”

“I don’t think so. I did it myself. I don’t wanna go back.”

Silence followed before the man’s voice filled the air again.

“Someone must be wanting you to have a second chance then.” 

“A second… what?” Leon shook his head. “What are you talking about? Who are you?”

Another beat of silence followed.

“I’m surprised you didn’t recognize my voice, but some things can’t be helped.”

There was a gust of wind, and the force pushed Leon back. He spun in the air, doing a flip before something caught him and spun him around.  
“Welcome to the world of the dead Leon.”

Leon’s eyes widened as he took in the familiar hoodie and face looking at him. Blue eyes stared into his with that same fiery determination Leon always found in them. He didn’t think he would ever see them again.

“Raihan, you’re… here?”

“‘Course I am. I died too you know. Did you think I’d just move on?” A grin took over Leon’s old teammate’s face.

Years ago, when Leon played for Galar’s professional soccer team Raihan was his rival. Leon never would have been as good as he was if it wasn’t for not only the pressure to train Raihan put on him, but also all the support he had given.

But there had been an accident on the way home from a match. A drunk driver slammed into Raihan's car, killing him on impact.

Despite the accident happening two years ago, it seemed longer and had slipped Leon’s mind. 

“Sorry I didn’t—”

“You’re fine man,” he said, placing his arms behind his head. “No one remembers you after you die.”

Leon lowered in the air. Probably just lack of control from the whole being dead thing. 

“But that’s not important. We have to get you back,” Raihan grinned, the momentarily dullness in his blue eyes disappearing. “Can’t have you staying around here. See after dying, I’ve kind of become a guide around these parts. Taking souls to their resting place and that mumbo jumbo.”

Leon frowned. “I told you I killed myself. I don’t want to go back.”

Raihan fell in the air, barely catching himself before plummeting to the world below. His blue eyes widened in shock.

“I… didn’t think that’s what you meant,” his voice trailed off. “But why?”

“Why what?”

“Why’d you do it? Why don’t you want to go back?”

“Because there’s no place for me in the world,” Leon said with a sigh. “I’ve disappeared, Raihan. I got injured during a match, my leg’s bum now it doesn’t work. I can barely walk, let alone go back to playing. No one cares for a dead career. No one wants to see someone who can’t even play.”

“Leon…”

And it was true. Leon was nothing to the world. He would never be able to play soccer again. Never feel the pitch under him, the ball in his feet. He’d never be able to score again, hear the crowd roar around him.

And most of all, his name would never be mentioned again. 

It had been months since his leg was destroyed. Months filled with pain, surgery, and pity. The only thing that got him through it was his family and friends supporting him to the end. At night he would stay up watching news segments about himself, and he knew that, towns away, his dad was sitting in a hospital bed that mirrored his own watching him and  _ remembering  _ him.

But then the news stories stopped. His name was replaced. Victor. The one who had taken down the undefeatable Galar team.

The one who had destroyed Leon’s career.

And Leon’s name had been lost in the media. No reporters tried to see him. When he was outside the house, only a few people gave waves of pity and sympathy. Leon was no longer an inspiration. He was no longer  _ known.  _ His name was deleted from history.

He was just speeding up the process. Getting rid of the middle man. People no longer cared for him, he knew that, mind as well take the eraser himself and scratch out his name. One last hurrah in the news. One last moment people would remember him by.

Then, just as the world wanted, he would vanish.

“You’re not gone yet,” Raihan said. 

Leon frowned as his friend drew closer. 

“It doesn’t matter.”

“No, I mean you haven’t disappeared yet.”

Leon’s head tilted to the side before he shook his head.

“That’s—”

“Do you know how long it’s been since you died?”

“You know that information?”

Raihan smirked. “Like I said, I’m your guide through the afterlife. The benefits are quite nice,” he said grabbing onto Leon’s hand. “C’mon let me show you something.”

“Wait I—”

Leon’s voice was cut out over the sound of rushing wind. Around him, the blue skies changed. Buildings instead replaced his vision, flashing by as Raihan pulled him through a maze of streets. Soon, the two stopped before a dark two-story building. Raihan nodded to the window and floated up, pulling Leon alongside him.

“Look,” Raihan whispered, moving over so Leon could look inside. He cringed inwardly knowing if anyone saw them it would look incredibly suspicious especially when considering they were looking into a little boy’s bedroom.

But looking over the walls Leon soon realized Raihan’s intentions. He saw posters of himself plastered over the kid’s walls. Even a figurine of his famous pose sat on the desk.

Then he heard the voices.

One came from two parents, the other came from a small ,dreamy-eyed kid sitting in front of the TV.

“It’s perfect!” 

Leon craned his head in farther to see the two parents of the kid sitting beside him. In his hands, he held a present. A hat. A replica of the one Leon always wore to his matches.

“I’m going to be just like him!” the kid exclaimed jumping up and down showing his hat off to his parents and striking Leon’s famous pose. “Dead or not, I’m going to show him just how strong I can become.”

His parents chuckled and leaned in giving him a hug.

“Looks like someone’s a bit of an inspiration,” Raihan said as Leon, halfway through the window, was ready to throw his arms around the kid and promise him that he could do it. “Still feeling forgotten?”

“I…” Leon’s voice failed him.

Maybe he was wrong. Maybe people actually did care.

“But he’ll forget me.”

“He doesn’t, spoiler warning,” Raihan smirks. “He goes on to become one of the best soccer players in the world all the while sporting your name and hat.”

“How do you know that?”

“Guide, like I said twice now,” He flicked Leon’s forehead. “Perks include seeing people’s futures. When they’re going to die, what they’re going to accomplish, all that stuff.”

“Then you knew I was going to die?”

Raihan’s lips tightened. “I hoped it wasn’t true.”

Leon flinched as he saw Raihan looking at the ground as though this whole thing was his fault. Like he should’ve stopped Leon from doing this.

“So you still want to stay dead?”

Leon frowned. “Just because one person remembers me doesn’t mean I want to go back to a life full of pain.”

Raihan sighed, crossing his arms. “Figured you’d say that,” He looked to the darkening sky. “Then I’m going to show you that.”

“What?”

Raihan grabbed Leon’s wrist and the world in front of him rushed again. 

When they stopped this time, Leon knew exactly where they were. His stomach tightened as he stared at the large white hospital before him. 

Raihan wouldn’t bring him to see…

“C’mon, you have to see this,” Raihan pulled on Leon’s arm, but he didn’t budge, fear rooting him in place. “If you still want to stay after this then you can. But… I want you to go back. There’s nothing here for someone like you.”

“There’s you.” Leon smiled. Raihan grinned back, throwing an arm around Leon and rubbing his head.

“Guess there’s that. But I’m going to be here for a while, so you’ll see me again.”

“That is, if this thing convinces me to go back.”

Raihan’s lips fell, and his eyes clouded. But a second later he was pulling Leon forwards to the hospital room. The fourth story, seven windows over. 

The room Leon had memorized. 

His stomach tightened and he felt sick. He wondered if ghosts could throw up.

As the two snuck into the room, Leon concluded he was either going to pass out or throw up. There in the room sat a nurse he didn’t recognize, but also his dad, his brother, and his mom. The three people he’d written his note for.

The three people that somehow made him regret his choice, if even just a little.

He drew closer, before crossing through the window into the room. His father seemed to notice the sudden appearance of the two and shut off the TV confused as to what they were doing there.

“Hello,” Leon’s dad said as his brother and mom approached. “You two are… Vanessa and… Haden?”

“Hop.”

“Hop!” Leon’s dad cried with a smile. “That’s the name. Sorry I forgot. How have you been?”

“I’ve been fine, dad, but…” Leon watched as his brother’s golden eyes fell. He reached his arm out subconsciously.

“What’s up son?”

“Leon’s gone.”

“Leon…” his dad’s voice sounded lost, his face contorted as though it were trying to remember something he had lost. “Leon is… who again?”

“The one who’s always on TV,” a nurse cut in. Hop sent her a glare and she covered her mouth immediately.  
“Oh the old champion right,” Leon’s father’s face lit up as though he put together the picture. “I saw a news segment on his last week though he can’t be—”

“He’s your son.”

Leon watched as his dad’s face contorted, shifted, changed. From confusion to denial to finally feigned understanding.

“Oh yeah, Leon…” he muttered running a hand through his hair. “He’s gone… what happened?”

Hop’s mouth opened to answer, but words couldn’t form in his mouth. Leon watched as he bit his lip and tried again.

“Overdose,” Leon’s mom covered. “He was using oxycontin for the surgeries to his leg. It… got too much for him.”

She dug through her bag and fished out a white note. The letter Leon had painfully scrawled what seemed like hours ago.

“Here. He wanted you to see this before he went.”

Leon’s dad took the piece of paper reading it over. Leon knew when his dad’s memory was short circuiting. Visiting him enough times told him that a crease in his eyebrows said he was trying to remember and that a hand on his chin meant he was considering feigning understanding.

Then he scratched his cheek.

He lied. 

“I’m sorry honey… for your loss,” he said. “For our loss.”

His golden eyes looked up but the tears on Hop and his mom’s face didn’t match his own somber expression. 

“You always told me you wanted to be big so your dad could see you,” Raihan said, placing a hand on Leon’s cheek wiping the tears running down his face. “So that everytime he looked at the TV, he would see you and remember.”

“Without you living he’s never going to see you.”

The one thing Leon feared more than everything. The reality he began to live with. That he would disappear forever.

“It’s not too late,” Raihan said. “Death makes a person disappear completely. There’s no do-overs. Trust me, I know. But if you live...”

The blinding light from before suddenly caught Leon’s vision. A golden rope hanging above him.

“If you live, everyone still can remember you. Your life doesn’t end here. But it’s your choice. You can either stay with me and be forgotten by your family, or go back and write your own destiny. One I don’t even know.”

Leon stared at his family and at his dad sitting in that hospital bed. He thought of all the work he poured into practicing and becoming the best and then finally reaching the top with his name everywhere. 

He also saw his fall. The day everything was stripped from him.

But not everything. Not just yet.

“You know Raihan without you I don’t think I would’ve ever gotten as far as I did,” Leon grinned giving his friend one last hug. “Thank you for always pushing me.”

“Don’t sweat it. I’m just doing my job.” Raihan smiled, squeezing Leon tighter in their embrace.

“Now get out there and live for the both of us. I don’t want to see you for another sixty years you hear me?”

“Aye aye captain.” Leon saluted, raising his hand to grab onto the rope above. “See you.”

And with a strong pull of his arm, Leon ascended back into the world of the living. 

~<>~

The hospital lights were brighter than before. They tore into Leon’s head and he winced. It was a familiar feeling, but one that was foreign all the same. 

He hobbled through the hallways, his leg strong enough to make it through the maze of rooms but still weak enough to make walking difficult. His trainer said he was getting there and maybe in a few months he might even be able to run again, albeit crooked. But the pain had dampened and he saw less and less of those little diamonds. 

As he passed room after room, he peeked in seeing the news. On the screen he smiled at the sight of his own face staring into the face of patients. The story of his new organization was on, a soccer training program for people with injuries like himself. 

Second Chance, he called it after a friend. 

The day he woke up from his overdose, he dreamed up the plan. Between the doctor’s tests and counselling, he’d written the program and idea, finding the organization come to fruition only two months after he was let out of the hospital.

It was a new start for everyone. A second chance of his own.

Counting the doors as he passed by, he finally reached the one he was aiming for. In the fourth story and the seventh room, he stopped. 

With a note in his hand and a smile on his face, ventured in.

“Hey dad!”

“Hi Leon! How’s my son doing today?”

**Author's Note:**

> Well that was a fun little diddy. Also to note I am not an expert on this matter and the overdose was definitely not accurately portrayed, forgive me for that. I hope everyone enjoyed, stay safe out there and have great day :D


End file.
